Dear #Apple, do you know what you can do with that fingerprint sensor? | #iPhone #LackOfSunshine

[maxomai]

Quoting NBC News's coverage of Apple's unveiling of the latest iPhone:

This phone has had a massive overhaul inside the case, despite its cosmetic similarity to its predecessor: A new camera, core chipset, motion processing system, even a fingerprint scanner for security and ease of use.

Got that? They just want to store your fingerprints on their device. It's as secure as a passcode because you only leave them around every time you touch something and they're really hard to change. It's good security. Really. Trust them.

Comments

[arkham4269.livejournal.com]

Biometrics: the wave of the future...and to destroying even more of your property.

What I don't like is Apple is in a way copyrighting your fingerprint. If you use it for the iPhone they there is a digital copy of it. When more fingerprint thingys come out, you'll be wary of them because of that preexisting image. So you might not want to use them and thus Apple is the only one with a copy of it...and that will make it more valuable.

[soclosesofar.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in biometric security but I'm not interested in giving Apple that kind of control. I'd be more likely to use it if it were a third party device not coming from the Mothership, as it were.

[mark-a-morgan.livejournal.com]

"The Touch ID sensor in the iPhone 5s a capacitive reader, embedded in the home button. That was a good choice on Apple’s part, since capacitive scanners are more accurate and less prone to smudgy fingers, and can’t be faked out with a photocopy of a fingerprint." http://tidbits.com/article/14089 There's more there in the article. Essentially someone has to have your finger and your phone. If they have that, you have bigger problems than the Touch ID, I'd say. (That said, I wouldn't go to a hacker conference using any kind of single-factor authentication. I bet there are already fake fingers in the wild.)

Apple also only stores the digital data of your fingerprint, not the actual print.

In my case, I suspect this will dramatically increase our security as I just use a 4-digit PIN and Cindi uses nothing because she only used a lock code in public when everyone could see what she was typing so it was a waste of time for her.